Mediware Delivers BiologiCare

Mediware Delivers BiologiCare

Mediware Delivers New Product Ahead of Schedule to Improve Safety of Transplantable Materials BiologiCare™ is the first commercial grade, integrated software product to ensure safe and efficient management of bone, tissue andother cellular products used in healthcare facilities.

LENEXA KS, June 24, 2008 – Mediware Information Systems (NASD: MEDW), https://www.mediware.com/, a provider of ClosedLoop™ clinical systems for blood and medication management, announced the launch of BiologiCare™, a software system designed specifically to track and manage transplantable materials in hospitals, surgery centers, and other healthcare facilities. BiologiCare ensures that donors, tissue vendors and tissue recipients are fully documented and enables these facilities to be fully compliant with current regulations.

“BiologiCare is one of several strategic initiatives that will continue Mediware’s growth and I am pleased that this new product was released ahead of schedule,” said Kelly Mann, Mediware’s president and chief executive officer. “BiologiCare is the first of its kind in a market that is new and rapidly developing.”

The need for BiologiCare stems from the fact that more than 50 percent of U.S. hospitals perform transplantation procedures. These procedures range from using bone chips and tendon tissues in surgery, to organ replacements and the use of marrow and stem cells in advanced therapies. There is not currently an enterprise-wide, automated system to track where these materials were obtained, if they have been stored appropriately, and where they were used. An estimated 10 million transplantation procedures have now been performed.

“New biovigilance programs – which oversee the safe and efficient procurement, use and tracking of these materials – are rapidly developing throughout the world and are a strategic initiative of organizations such as the American Association of Blood Banks (www.aabb.org),” said Mann. “Until now healthcare facilities have not had specific computer systems available to assist them with the complex tracking, storage and reporting requirements of these types of tissues.”

For healthcare facilities, the effective tracking and tracing of transplantable materials has become a serious management problem with few viable solutions. A typical facility will have a wide variety of transplantable tissues from a myriad of suppliers on hand at any given time. Each product type has different storage, processing, matching and use requirements that must be followed to ensure patient safety. BiologiCare assists healthcare facilities address these clinical and operational challenges, including the need to improve efficiencies and maintain strict regulatory compliance.

“This is a commercial grade software system with rich clinical intelligence, full enterprise integration and multi-facility capabilities that enables healthcare organizations to safely and efficiently manage these expensive materials,” said Mann. “With an increasing number of reported adverse events associated with transplanted tissue, it is clear that healthcare needs better technology to address these advanced procedures.”

Improved Safety
While the risk of disease is low in transplantation cases, there are recent incidents where tissue suppliers distributed products that improperly acquired and fraudulently documented. In 2005 a scandal unfolded around Biomedical Tissue Services, a New Jersey company accused of using stolen bodies and of shipping nearly 20,000 potentially tainted body parts. In 2006 the FDA shut down Donor Referral Services of Raleigh, N.C. because the FDA said the company had “serious deficiencies” in its processing, donor screening and record-keeping. When potentially tainted body parts are shipped to hospitals the impact is staggering. For every instance the hospital’s staff is required to determine who came into contact with the product and where the product was used. Each person must be notified of the potential risk and whether or not they need to be tested. This discovery requires hospitals to manually search patient records and files, a process that could take staff from days to weeks depending on the number of procedures performed and products used.

“Using BiologiCare, this process can be performed in minutes, reports generated and automatic notifications distributed,” said Mann.

A further safety feature built into BiologiCare is a vendor qualification module. This allows hospitals to define their qualification parameters and manage all vendors to a single standard. This alerts staff receiving products in the event that a vendor’s status is unknown or out of date.

Improved Efficiency
In many hospitals, multiple departments order and store products from multiple vendors and manage these transplantable materials using a paper-based approach. Without centralized controls, monitoring inventories, costs and vendor qualifications is difficult and the risk of waste is high. As the cost of these materials increases, hospitals are becoming more vigilant in their management oversight.

“One customer audited their tissue inventory, which was stored in boxes and refrigerators throughout the hospital, and found that they had $40,000 worth of products that had expired,” said Mann. “This was a tremendous financial loss for this facility.”

While the primary use of these materials is in surgery, many facilities are looking to the hospital blood bank to provide oversight because of the clinical background and experience with rigid controls used to manage similarly regulated products. In the early 1980’s the FDA began regulating the hospital blood supply and strict guidelines for procurement, storage, distribution and use were set in place. Hospital blood banks today must indefinitely keep detailed records of each unit of blood, and where it ended up.

“Regulation and oversight of biologics is definitely on the rise,” continued Mann. “Hospital blood banks are used to managing these types of materials but unfortunately they don’t have the staff or tools to do so efficiently.”

“Using BiologiCare, our customers can know at a glance what they have available, where it came from, where it is stored, and who has had exposure to it. The system also fully documents where it was used in the unlikely event of a recall.”

BiologiCare is available for purchase and Mediware is currently offering introductory web casts to demonstrate the systems features and benefits. Information on the next available web cast, and links to event registration, can be found at https://www.mediware.com.

“Mediware has been designing blood management systems for more than two decades,” said Mann. “We understand the safety, regulatory and reporting requirements for these types of clinical solutions and are pleased to have extended our experience and expertise to this new and exciting field. This will be a growth platform for us in 2010 and beyond and I look forward to announcing our first customers in the coming weeks.”

As senior vice president of client experience, John Hutchinson is responsible for defining, developing, and executing strategic plans to achieve a superior client experience. With more than 15 years of health care experience, John has a proven track record of leading teams with a focus on delighting clients and optimizing their success. Prior to WellSky, John served as vice president of the clinical and technology strategic business unit at Cerner where he was responsible for developing an organization mindset and operating rhythm that balanced solution expertise with a client-centric relationship model. John’s experience also includes various financial and operational roles at Sprint. John earned his MBA and bachelor’s from the University of Kansas.

Amy ShellhartSenior Vice President, Operations

As senior vice president of operations, Amy Shellhart enforces a clear mission and framework to WellSky’s innovation efforts. Drawing on 25 years of healthcare industry experience, Amy is responsible for optimizing the effectiveness of the engineering and innovation teams in our ongoing efforts to improve client experience. Prior to WellSky, Amy served as vice president of product management at Change Healthcare. Amy’s experience also includes leading the charge in establishing the MassineBoecker, Inc. population health management footprint in the U.S. and 15 years at Healthways providing strategic direction and operational insight before transitioning to vice president of product development and management. Amy earned her MBA and bachelor’s degree from Southwest Baptist University.

Steve MorganChief Operating Officer

Steve Morgan serves as chief operating officer for Mediware and is responsible for setting direction and executing against the company’s strategic objectives and priorities. With 16 years of industry experience, a passion for company culture, and an emphasis on the client experience, Steve leads Mediware’s diverse teams focused on optimizing client workflows, efficiencies, and outcomes. Prior to joining Mediware in June 2018, Steve served as COO for OptumInsight, a division of Optum, which is the health services platform of UnitedHealth Group. Steve was broadly responsible for the company’s annual operating plan with a focus on employee engagement, client management, growth, and innovation. He was fundamental to the growth and strategic scalability of OptumInsight on an organic basis and through the completion of several critical acquisitions that were integrated into the company. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business administration from the University of Kansas.

Bill MillerChief Executive Officer

Bill Miller is the CEO of Mediware and a recognized leader in the healthcare industry. He has a rich background that includes a more than 20 year history of bringing groundbreaking growth strategies and technological innovation to the healthcare marketplace and a proven track record of launching and leading highly successful healthcare IT companies. Prior to joining Mediware in July 2017, Bill was the CEO of OptumInsight, a division of Optum, which is the health services platform of UnitedHealth Group. Under Bill’s leadership, OptumInsight experienced unprecedented revenue growth, expanded margins, and claimed a transformative position in the health services market. He led the evolution of Optum into the leader in health care analytics and launched several tech-enabled business platforms. Prior to OptumInsight, Bill served as senior vice president of technologies at Cerner Corporation, where he had global responsibility for the company’s managed services, outsourcing, and technology services business units. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Bill holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in urban planning and public policy.

Chris HesterPresident, Home Care

Chris Hester founded Kinnser Software in 2003, when he developed an innovative web-based application for home health agencies. He served as the company’s president for 14 years of rapid growth, which saw Kinnser become the most widely used EMR in home health and expand into new markets, including hospice and private duty home care. Kinnser Software was acquired by Mediware in June 2017. Today, Chris serves as president of Mediware’s home care division, which includes applications for home care, home health, and rehabilitation.

Rob WeberPresident, Community Care

Rob Weber serves as president of Mediware’s diverse community care division, overseeing applications for behavioral health, homeless management, long-term services and supports, medication management, and blood management. Rob has held this position since 2017, and he previously also managed many of Mediware’s other clinical applications, including blood services and medication management. Rob joined Mediware in January 2004, originally serving as executive vice president and general counsel, and he continues to serve as the company’s general counsel for legal and regulatory matters.

Robert WatkinsChief Financial Officer

Robert “Bob” Watkins started at Mediware as corporate controller in 2008. In 2011, he was promoted to vice president and corporate controller and to CFO in 2012. Prior to joining Mediware, Bob held a number of financial management positions, including serving as corporate controller for Titan Machinery (TITN), a $1 billion provider of agricultural and construction equipment. His prior experience also includes a corporate controller position at AFS Financial, where he also served as chief financial officer. Bob is a current member of the AICPA and Financial Executives International.

Joel DolisyChief Technology Officer

In his role as chief technology officer, Joel Dolisy manages both product development and information technology for Mediware. Before joining Mediware as CTO, Joel was CTO of Kinnser Software, where he led the company’s engineering and product organizations. Before Kinnser, Joel was SVP, CTO, and CIO for SolarWinds, a leading provider of IT management software. With more than 20 years of experience in product strategy and software engineering, Joel is a leader in developing and delivering commercial software products to market.

Chris StansburyExecutive Vice President, Growth

As executive vice president of growth, Chris Stansbury works with all sales teams within Mediware to create and standardize best practices for selling, interacting, contracting, and negotiating with clients. With over 25 years of health care IT services sales leadership, Chris has experience in all aspects of health care, including the provider side when he was at Cerner, the payer side when he was at TriZetto, and the Wellness side as he most recently was a vice president at Welltok.

Shoma Sarkar ThomasChief Marketing Officer

As chief marketing officer, Shoma Sarkar Thomas oversees the marketing strategy for all WellSky products and is responsible for building the WellSky brand, which includes public relations, communications, and all strategic marketing activities. Previously, Shoma served as vice president of marketing for Kinnser Software, where she led marketing and strategic growth initiatives. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and international relations from the University of Virginia.

Stephen GreenbergSVP of Human and Social Services

Stephen (Steve) Greenberg is responsible for Mediware’s Homeless & Community, Behavioral Health and LTSS businesses. Prior to joining Mediware, Steve was President of DecisionHealth, LLC for six years, after which time he successfully helped execute the sale of this revenue cycle management decision-support company. Before that, he worked at OptumInsight for 12 years as a senior leader of many of its provider software and service solutions and, in his last role as SVP, Government Solutions, built a prospective and retrospective fraud, waste and abuse detection capability for UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare and Medicaid businesses.

Dana StreckSenior Vice President, Human Capital

Dana Streck leads Mediware’s human capital organization. Before joining Mediware, Dana was senior director of workforce transitions for Cerner Corporation, where she welcomed and transitioned new team members into Cerner through client partnerships and acquisitions. With more than 15 years of experience in human resources, Dana has successfully partnered with business leaders to drive workforce initiatives that benefit both companies and clients, while simultaneously creating environments that support growth and innovation.

Jason BakerVP, Corporate Development

As vice president of corporate development for Mediware, Jason Baker is responsible for acquisitions, partnerships, and new market strategies. Prior to joining Mediware, he was a managing director for Alpine Healthcare Advisors and Healthcare Growth Partners, both of which provide investment banking services in healthcare technology and services. Jason also served as head corporate development executive for Cerner Corporation. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri.

Wes LittleVice President, Applied Insights

As vice president of analytics, Wes Little leads Mediware’s unified analytics strategy to deliver data-driven insights and innovative solutions. He previously served as director of product management for Kinnser Software, where he oversaw rapid product innovation for the company’s home health electronic medical record software. Wes holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington and Lee University.